Earthen Building

Oh, so the Hakka 客家, one of the Han Chinese groups differs from the other Han Chinese groups in that they are not named after a geographical region in China. During the recent Chinese New Year, I happened to see a model of tulou 土楼  in Sunway Pyramid, Kuala Lumpur. Tulou refers to dwellings unique to the Hakka. The model in Kuala Lumpur was small and circular and did not have walls of earth; so, I suppose calling it tulou or earthen building wasn't really appropriate. But then, of course it was just a model and understandably too, it was not as big. A real tulou could house up to 800 people. Sometimes rectangular, sometimes circular, it could also be  three to five stories high. Inside, there may be a smaller building housing halls, storehouses, wells and living areas and reminds of a small fortified city. I remember some of my friends visiting tulou in Fujian, China about a year or two ago. Built between the 12th and the 20th centuries, the ones in the mountainous areas in southeastern Fujian are appropriately called Fujian tulou 福建土楼. The inhabitants however are Hakka and it puzzled me why they are not Fujians.











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